Mitigating Circumstances
by Lizard Pie
Summary: Chairman Rose considers Allister, and whether his talent outweighs the progress he has or hasn't made towards becoming a proper gym leader.


The lights were blinding, and camera flashes filled the few places where they weren't. Everyone on the panel was very used to this level of examination, particularly at press conferences like this on. Like the seasoned professionals they were, they did their best to maintain their persona even when idle.

Gym leaders needed a lot of things to be successful, above and beyond training ability. They needed a personality, an aesthetic, a story. Something to make fans of the league want to wear their numbers and buy their jerseys when there were so many other options.

Rose had assembled an amazing team based on those parameters. And, as a whole, they positively shone in press conferences. Right then, Milo had probably just sold a few dozen uniforms by enthusiastically describing his newest herding Yamper. Melony's hints about major aesthetic changes to her gym would definitely fill any empty seats she might have had.

Allister sat dwarfed between them. His mic was dead, as Rose had requested, so there would be no advertising from him. He couldn't say anything that would sell more than he could by being an eerily silent curiosity..

He was the youngest leader any region had ever had (if only by a few months), which had built-in hype and merchandising potential. He dragged himself around and swayed unsettlingly like he was possessed by the ghosts he specialized in. The mask, designed as much to scare people away as to protect his privacy, and a uniform clearly made for someone else just completed the package.

Allister had practically been tailor-made to take over a ghost gym, and the numbers he pulled in week after week confirmed it.

A question came up about the rumored new lineup for the Stow-on-Side Gym. Allister creaked his head to the side, and he stared until the reporter squirmed helplessly in her chair. The uncomfortable silence hung over the room until Rose stepped in to gush about the recent acquiring of a Runerigus, and perhaps gym modifications for a Jellicent sometime in the future. The reporter thanked him, and she like all the others cut all further questions about Stow-on-Side from their lists. Nobody wanted another stare like that.

It was very lucky that no news outlet had dug too deeply into the persona they'd invented for Allister. Publicizing that he stuttered, mumbled, and squeaked when nervous, and spoke in casual slang when more comfortable, would take a lot of the mystique away. Digging a little more and revealing that his swaying was largely a coping mechanism for his anxiety, or that the large desks were to hide how his sweaty hands kneaded at his shorts, would obliterate it.

There were treatments for disorders like this which utilized medications and psychic types deleting problematic memories. Allister was several years too young to start them, though. All they could do was put him in enough therapy to at least let him ignore the crowds while he fought. One of the league doctors had offhandedly mentioned this was part of the reason children (and he'd emphasized children ) this young weren't even allowed to become challengers. The stress, and inability to do more than mitigate symptoms, might be too much for them.

Which was a shame, really. Rose had truly wanted this whole anxiety thing to be eliminated, Allister was functional gym leader, thanks to the therapy, but he certainly didn't interact with the fans anywhere near enough. And, if he ever had a public breakdown, there would be an awful lot of talk and questions. People would wonder how he'd gotten a license in the first place. They might suggest nepotism thanks to his gym leader sister, or any one of a great deal of ethical questions about a child being in this role that were just… it was much better to simply let people assume anything off about him was simply due to ghost specialists just being like that.

Besides, it wasn't as if people hadn't seen how he came alive during battles. They'd seen how ghosts followed his lead during exhibitions, how he could soothe otherwise impossibly chaotic graveyards, and how he and Bea had brought prosperity to an otherwise easily passed-over town. Rose had never seen a trainer as close to the epitome of what a ghost specialist should be, and therefore nobody else who could fit the role like Allister could. Technicalities shouldn't affect that. And people seemed to agree, since the public wore his number rather happily.

As far as Rose was aware, people had accepted his age and weren't digging into him at all. Of course, he'd heard something about Allister recently switching from public school to a personal tutor. But he was such a private child that there was no reason to think that it had to do with an over-eager fanbase. Rose would have been told if it was.

He was fairly sure, anyway.

The press conference eventually drew to an end. Rose thanked the reporters for coming and led his gym leaders out of public view.

As soon as it was safe, Allister rushed straight to his sister's side. While Bea rubbed his back, Melony crouched down beside them. He'd done wonderfully out there, she insisted. And absolutely nobody actually liked press conferences. Milo, in his normal booming manner, praised how much less noticable the fidgeting had gotten.

Allister mumbled a 'thanks' and asked if Bea and he could head back to their room. Nobody asked if they'd see him outside of it before the opening ceremony the next day. They already knew that they wouldn't.

Rose watched them go. This was Allister's second opening ceremony, and just like the last time he rushed off the second he wasn't contractually obligated to stick around. There'd been hope that he'd be better about it by now. Maybe not enough for autographs, but at least enough to attend the celebratory dinner. Evidently not, but at least he would eventually reach treatment age. Assuming everything worked out, of course, and assuming said treatment didn't affect his supernatural ability to connect with ghost Pokemon, he had a long and successful career ahead of him.

And if he didn't, or it didn't, that would be fine as well. As long as things worked out in the long term for the whole, everything would be fine.


End file.
